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O’Connell Tower and Crypt

Former President Mary McAleese said it was a fitting tribute to his memory and an appropriate place for those of us who owed him so much to come in respectful pilgrimage.

"Daniel O'Connell is in distinguished company in Glasnevin cemetery, for many of those who heroically invested their lives in the services of Ireland's freedom and democratisation are buried here," said the President.

"The Glasnevin Trust has provided us with a very fine tribute to the history of Ireland contained within these walls and a wonderful facility for the many visitors from Ireland and from around the world who are drawn here by what it represents and who it represents."

Access to the tower and Mr O’Connell’s crypt had been limited for a number of decades because of damage caused to the tower by a suspected loyalist bomb attack in the 1971. It will be open to groups visiting the cemetery every day from now on.

The crypt was built between 1860 and 1868 and his Irish oak coffin was entombed beneath the tower by a large black Kilkenny marble altar stone which rests on a bed of limestone.

Glasnevin historian Shane MacThomáis said there was a complete restoration of many aspects of the crypt such as the coffin, stone work, mosaics and painting.
O’Connell died in Italy in 1847 and is believed to have requested that his heart be buried in Rome and the remainder of his body in a crypt in Glasnevin, beneath its 52m (170ft) round tower.